The Theory of Parasitism 



ing from a prolonged incarceration: they re- 

 turn to the cell which they have built, the be- 

 loved stolen cell; they minutely explore the 

 outside of It, or at least what lies nearest to 

 it, if the cell has disappeared under the new 

 structures. In cases where the home is not 

 henceforward inaccessible, It is at least occu- 

 pied by a strange egg and the door is securely 

 fastened. To this reverse of fortune the 

 ousted ones retort with the brutal lex tali- 

 onis: an egg for an egg, a cell for a cell. 

 You've stolen my house; I'll steal yours. 

 And, without much hesitation, they proceed 

 to force the lid of a cell that suits them. 

 Sometimes they recover possession of their 

 own home, if it is possible to get into it ; some- 

 times and more frequently they seize upon 

 some one else's dwelling, even at a consider- 

 able distance from their original dwelling. 



Patiently they gnaw the mortar lid. As the 

 general rough-cast covering all the cells is not 

 applied until the end of the work, all that 

 they need do is to demolish the lid, a hard 

 and wearisome task, but not beyond the 

 strength of their mandibles. They therefore 

 attack the door, the cement disk, and reduce 

 it to dust. The criminal is allowed to carry 

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